Easley’s testimony before board contradicts pilot

By Gary D. RobertsonAssociated Press Writer

Wednesday

Oct 28, 2009 at 8:33 AMOct 28, 2009 at 8:43 PM

Former North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said Wednesday invoices for flights on a private plane that were filed by a political ally of his campaign had nothing to do with defraying the cost of repairs on his Raleigh home.

RALEIGH | Out of office for nine months, former Gov. Mike Easley appeared in public Wednesday to reject testimony from a friend and political ally about airplane flights and home repairs being investigated by the State Board of Elections.In more than four hours of testimony, Easley denied he told McQueen Campbell to use bills for campaign flights piloted by Campbell to hide thousands of dollars in reimbursements from campaign funds to pay for repairs Campbell took care of on the governor’s home.“I don’t know where he got that idea but he didn’t get it from me,” Easley told the board.Campbell, a longtime family friend whom Easley appointed to the N.C. State University trustee board, testified Monday that the governor had suggested the idea to him and that he filed two false invoices totaling more than $11,000.The airplane flights, a car leased to the campaign and other issues surrounding Easley and his wife have drawn attention from state and federal investigators.Easley said Campbell, the board’s star witness, was wrong.“He never, ever mentioned anything about repairs to the house along with any invoices. They were all separate,” Easley told the board, adding there was no conversation “where he could imply, read my mind or anything else ... for him to submit bogus invoices.”The contradictions in testimony come as election board members are expected to decide Thursday at the close of an investigative hearing what actions to take, if any, against Easley’s committee and the state Democratic Party.The board could exonerate his campaign, order it to pay fines or refer the case to prosecutors for criminal charges.The ex-governor, a Democrat who left office in January after eight years, testified he told Campbell in 2005 to file an invoice for the campaign to advance him money to pay for expected flights. That kind of prebilling is apparently lawful. Campbell’s two invoices, however, were for past flights.Easley said he did ask Campbell to get repairs performed on the home, which Easley had rented out while he lived in the Executive Mansion, for some water damage and other items.He testified he thought Campbell would have billed the real estate company that managed his home or talked to his personal assistant to write him a personal check as reimbursement.Campbell also said he flew Easley around on scores of campaign-related flights from 1999 through 2004 that were never reported by The Mike Easley Committee. Campbell presented a list of those flights at nearly $88,000.Easley said it was difficult to remember all the flights going back to the time he was elected attorney general in 1992. But he didn’t believe Campbell had flown him the dozens of times that Campbell portrayed in documents he presented to the board.Easley said the campaign was willing to pay for all of the flights not reported by the campaign but said they had no reminder to do so before because Campbell never filed paperwork with the campaign.According to Easley, Campbell told him on two occasions that he had been paid for all of his expenses, including before an October 2008 newspaper article was released about Campbell’s piloting.“I said, McQueen, if there are flights that you haven’t been paid for, I don’t care if they go back to 1999, now is the time to tell somebody because they’re going to write a story,” Easley said. He recalled Campbell responded with “No, I’ve got everything, I’ve been reimbursed for everything.”Campbell’s attorney, Hill Allen, wouldn’t comment on Easley but said Campbell testified “to the best of his ability.” Board Chairman Larry Leake said there are no plans to recall Campbell as a witness.Other board members hearing testimony from Easley and his campaign finance advisers this week were concerned why no one in Easley’s campaign had information on Campbell’s flights.“I’m concerned about the fact that nobody recollects any of these ... flights by Mr. Campbell,” board member Chuck Winfree of Greensboro.Easley said he was busy as chief executive and relied on campaign staff to deal with finances. The board also is looking at whether the state party ceded authority over how campaign funds given by Easley’s campaign to the party were used – something the party denies.“To my knowledge, I’ve never seen a campaign report,” Easley said. “I did not spend a lot of time with the campaign itself.”The board also had hoped to question Ruffin Poole, Easley’s former legal counsel, but a Superior Court judge on Wednesday signed an order quashing the board’s subpoena. The judge put Poole’s affidavit explaining why he shouldn’t testify under seal. The board has agreed to appeal the decision.

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